Davies's feeling for the potency and bravura of the clarinet goes back to works of the 1960s; his concerto for the instrument is predictably a big ranging piece in two linked movements. The first fast with a brief slowintroduction has the soloist in propulsive melodic flights slipping over into florid runs but it is a virtuoso piece for the orchestra especially for the marimba and pair of horns. The Adagio that follows is in the spare cold birdcall-riven style of other recent Davies slow movements exploiting first the clarinet's low register and then at its climax the instrument's high extremes. A cadenza leads to the coda where Davies introduces a Scots tune previously hinted at with which he brings the work to an end in F sharp major.Miniature score.

The Clarinet Concerto was written in 1968 in response to a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society. It was first performed in February 1969 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis with Gervase de Pyer assoloist at the Royal Festival Hall London.